U.S. patent number 5,067,723 [Application Number 07/653,038] was granted by the patent office on 1991-11-26 for head mask tabletop action game.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Irwin Toy Ltd.. Invention is credited to Paula M. Yurkovic.
United States Patent |
5,067,723 |
Yurkovic |
November 26, 1991 |
Head mask tabletop action game
Abstract
A tabletop action game to be played by two, three or four
players. In one version, each player wears a head mask which
carries four locks of simulated hair which are each removably
fastened to the head mask. In another version of the game, the
locks of simulated hair are removably fastened to a replica of a
head designated for each player on a game board. Each player has a
marker which is moved along a path on a game board with the
movement decided by the roll of a die. Instructions or indicia on
the spaces forming the path tell the players to remove locks of
simulated hair from the head masks or replicas thereof of other
players or to transfer locks of simulated hair to the other
players. The winning player either collects locks of simulated hair
of all the different colors involved or looses all of the locks of
simulated hair except the single lock of simulated gray hair.
Inventors: |
Yurkovic; Paula M. (Chicago,
IL) |
Assignee: |
Irwin Toy Ltd. (Toronto,
CA)
|
Family
ID: |
24619249 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/653,038 |
Filed: |
February 8, 1991 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
273/249;
273/DIG.17; 273/DIG.30; 273/276; 446/27 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F
3/00006 (20130101); A41G 3/00 (20130101); A63F
2250/34 (20130101); Y10S 273/30 (20130101); A63F
2250/497 (20130101); Y10S 273/17 (20130101); A63F
2250/601 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63F
3/00 (20060101); A63F 003/00 (); A63H 033/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;273/249-254,256,258,276,DIG.17,DIG.30 ;446/27 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
"Greenie Beanie", Cossman and Levine, Inc. Advertisement,
3/10/1965..
|
Primary Examiner: Layno; Benjamin
Claims
I claim:
1. A tabletop action game for three or more players, including:
a head mask to be worn by each player,
each head mask having easily releasable fastening means for
attaching locks of hair to the helmet,
a plurality of locks of hair being attached to each head mask, with
each lock being of a different specified color of a selected
limited set of colors,
a playing board having a path indicated thereon,
said path having a series of spaces starting at a beginning and
continuing to an end,
a distinctive marker for each player which marker will fit on a
space of the series of spaces forming said path,
means to randomly indicate, within a range, the number of spaces a
player must move his marker during his playing turn, and
indicia on at least some of said squares in said path to indicate
the player whose marker lands on one of said squares is entitled to
remove a lock of hair from the head mask of another player and
attach it by means of the easily releasable fastening means to his
own head mask.
2. The tabletop action game of claim 1 in which each marker is
distinctive because of its unique color and the color of the locks
of hair attached to the head mask of each player match the color of
the player's marker.
Description
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is directed to a tabletop board game which involves
physical interaction between the players. Most board games are
sedentary in their play and thus appeal more to adults than to
children. In contrast, most games involving physical interaction
between the players are not well suited to being played indoors
and, especially, are not well suited to play around a table in a
living environment. Accordingly, an object of this invention is a
tabletop board game which requires the players to physically
interact with each other during the course of playing the game.
Another object of this invention is a board game which is
particularly attracted to children because it involves limited
physical interaction between the players while minimizing the risk
of physical injury due to this physical interaction.
Another object of this invention is a game in which the physical
interaction between the players is determined by the players'
movements along a path of a game board, which movements are in turn
controlled by chance based on the roll of a die.
Another object of this invention is a board game in which any
physical interaction with an opponent is directed to a proxy image
representing the opponent and not to the opponent himself, with the
proxy image being depicted on a playing board.
Other objects may be found in the following specification, claims
and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the
following drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a playing board for one embodiment of
the game of my invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a player, shown in
phantom line, wearing a head mask which may be used in playing the
board game shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, with a lock of the
simulated hair shown separated from the head mask and an additional
lock of gray hair;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a marker and die used in playing
the embodiments of the board game of my invention;
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a playing board for a second
embodiment of the game of my invention; and
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a spinning pointer selector used with
the embodiment of the game board shown in FIG. 4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A first embodiment of the game of my invention, the embodiment
which involves limited physical interaction between the players, is
shown in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings. A game board or playing board
11 used with this embodiment of my game is shown in FIG. 1 of the
drawings. This game board may be made in a conventional manner of a
hard piece of cardboard or paper which may, or may not, fold in the
center, depending upon its size, with printing to indicate the
decorative and functional features of the game applied to the upper
surface of the game board. The printing depicts a path 13 formed of
a series of spaces 15. The path 13 forms a closed loop and
surrounds a centrally located circular home space 17. The circular
home space 17 is connected to the path 13 by transition spaces 19
forming a crossover between the path and the circular home
space.
As shown in FIG. 2, each player 21 is provided with a head mask 25
which is formed of a piece of fabric 27 or other suitable flexible
material which is supported on a player's forehead by a stretch
band 29. Attached to the piece of fabric 27 are four fastener bases
31, each of which receives a lock 33 of simulated hair. Preferably,
yarn is used as the simulated hair. The fastener bases are made of
a large number of miniature plastic hooks while each of the locks
33 has a corresponding base portion 37 formed of miniature plastic
loops, which together form a hook and loop fastener mechanism which
is sold under the trademark VELCRO. It should be understood and
appreciated that other types of fastening means may be utilized to
connect the locks 33 of simulated hair to the fabric 27 of the head
mask, but the hook and loop fastener mechanisms have been found
most satisfactory for this purpose.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings, the fastener bases
31 are arranged on the piece of fabric 27 so that two are located
together at the top of a player's forehead and one at each side of
the forehead. But, it should be understood that this arrangement
may be varied. Additionally, the locks 33 of simulated hair are
provided in four different colors corresponding to the colors of
natural human hair, for example, red, blond, brown and black, but
of course other colors may be used if desired. Additionally, there
is an additional lock 39 of simulated gray hair shown in FIG. 2
which also has connector loops 37 on its bottom and which can
attach to a fastener base 31 on a player's head mask as a
substitute for one of the locks 33.
As can be seen in FIG. 1 of the drawings, the spaces 15 have
printing or indicia applied to them which provide either
instructions to or penalties for the player landing on the
particular space. For example, the spaces 15 which bear an indicia
43 of gray hair require the player landing thereon to pick up the
lock 39 of simulated gray hair either from the playing board or
from another player who may be wearing it on his or her head mask.
Other indicia printed on spaces 15 indicates that a space is a safe
space. When a player is on a safe space, no other player can give
or take a lock of simulated hair from that player's head mask.
Other spaces 15 bear the word "wild" which permits a player who
lands on that square to move to any other square on the board. The
types of instructions or penalties which can be indicated on the
spaces 15 are limited only by the nature of the game and, thus,
these examples should not be considered as limiting.
Each player has a distinctive marker 47 shown in FIG. 3 of the
drawings, which marker is of a convenient size to fit on one of the
spaces 15. The colors of the markers may correspond to the red,
blond, brown and black colors used for the locks of simulated hair
or other distinctive colors may be used. A die 49 is used to
indicate the number of spaces a player may move during his or her
turn.
The game of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings is
played in the following manner. Each player chooses a marker 47 of
one of the four available colors and a head mask 25 is placed on
the forehead of each player, with the head mask bearing four locks
33 of simulated hair, all of the same color, which color may also
match that of the player's marker 47.
The players take turns rolling the die 49 and move from space to
space 15. When a player lands on a space 15 bearing the "safe"
indicia, no other player can give or take a lock 33 of simulated
hair from that player's head mask 25. When a player lands on a
space 15 marked with the indicia "wild", that player can move to
any other space on the game board 11 and follow the instructions
indicated on that space. If a player lands on a space 15 that bears
the indicia 43 of a lock 39 of gray hair, the player must take the
simulated lock 39 of gray hair and wear it on his or her head mask
until someone else lands on that square or another player takes the
lock of gray hair. When a player accumulates at least one lock 33
of each color of simulated hair without the lock 39 of gray hair,
the player may then attempt to follow the path 13 across one of the
transition spaces 19 to the circular home space 17 and become the
winner of the game.
A second embodiment of my invention is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 of
the drawings and uses the marker 47 and die 49 shown in FIG. 3.
This embodiment of my invention directs the physical interaction of
the players to replicas 61 of heads which are printed in the
corners of a game board 63 rather than to head masks on the
players. The game board 63 is similar in construction to the game
board 11 previously described. In this embodiment of my game, the
players remove and attach the locks 33 of simulated hair to the
fastener bases 65 which are mounted on the game board 63 on what
would be the foreheads of the replicas 61 of heads. The path 67
consists of a series of spaces 69 which form a closed loop. A
circular home space 71 is located inside the closed loop but is
accessible from only one direction along spaces 73 and 75. Space 75
is indicated by printed indicia as the "start" where each player
must start with his or her distinctive marker 47. A player uses the
die 49 to determine the number of spaces to be moved in each turn
and the indicia on the spaces is similar to that previously
described for game board 11, except there are indicia 77 which
depict a spinnable pointer. A spinnable pointer selector 79, shown
in FIG. 5 of the drawings, has various sectors 81 printed thereon
with the sectors containing different instructions for the players.
When the player's marker 47 lands on a space 77 having an indicia
of a pointer thereon, the player must spin the pointer selector 79
and follow the instructions printed on the sector 81 on which the
pointer comes to rest.
In playing the game shown in the second embodiment of my invention,
each player selects a marker 47 and corresponding simulated locks
of hair 33. Each player places these locks of hair on his or her
own fastener bases 65 which are formed as part of their replica 61
of a head. The players in turn roll the die 49 and move their
respective markers 47 along the path 67 in accordance with the
number of spaces indicated by the die. If a player lands on a space
69 having an indicia 77 of a pointer applied thereto, the player
must spin the pointer 79 and follow the instructions in the sector
81 on which the pointer stops and give up or accept simulated locks
of hair 33 in accordance with the instructions on the pointer. If a
player lands on a space having an indicia 43 of gray hair, the
player must take the lock 39 of simulated gray hair.
Players proceed along the path 67 until a player collects four
different colors of locks 33 of simulated hair and is able to
proceed to the home circle 71 without the lock 39 of gray hair. If
a player reaches home space 71 without four different colored locks
33 of hair or has the gray hair lock 39, the player must go around
the path 67 one more time. In this embodiment of the invention, the
first player to make it to the home space 71 without the simulated
lock 39 of gray hair is the winner.
* * * * *